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The 'Best Cross-Code XIII' that left Ben Te'o annoyed over Danny Cipriani

(Photo by Henry Browne/Getty Images)

The absence of all forms of rugby at the moment on account of the Covid-19 pandemic has forced people to become creative and Fox League have recently compiled their ‘Best Cross-Code XIII’. Their nominated team has an unsurprising blend of pace, power and guile from some of the best players union has to offer currently.

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However, dual-code international Ben Te’o feels his ex-England team-mate Danny Cipriani is a glaring omission from the selection. The ex-Samoa rugby league international and England union representative said that he had played with or against every member of this fantasy team but had “never seen a ball player like (Cipriani)”. 

Fox League’s selection is quite a formidable team and it already has a number of players discussing it on social media. But Te’o is a player who has a lot of experience in both codes and would know what union players would surely be successful in league. 

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Little known rugby player Ben Mercer joins Jim Hamilton on The Lockdown to discuss his Amazon UK book chart success

This is high praise from Te’o to Cipriani who is currently the Rugby Players’ Association player of the year and switching to league is something that has come close to being a reality in the past as the 32-year-old Gloucester fly-half toyed with the prospect of moving to the NRL throughout his career.

Te’o is currently plying his trade with the Sunwolves in Japan after leaving Worcester Warriors last summer and having his England career effectively terminated after failing to make Eddie Jones’ World Cup squad. After a brief stint with Toulon, the centre was now playing in Super Rugby until the season was suspended in mid-March due to the virus outbreak.

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Having won an NRL title with the South Sydney Rabbitohs 2014 in addition to representing Queensland in the State of Origin before joining Leinster in 2015, Te’o has played with some of the best players ever in either code, which is all the more flattering for Cipriani. 

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G
GrahamVF 2 hours ago
Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

"has SA actually EVER helped to develop another union to maturity like NZ has with Japan," yes - Argentina. You obviously don't know the history of Argentinian rugby. SA were touring there on long development tours in the 1950's

We continued the Junior Bok tours to the Argentine through to the early 70's

My coach at Grey High was Giepie Wentzel who toured Argentine as a fly half. He told me about how every Argentinian rugby club has pictures of Van Heerden and Danie Craven on prominent display. Yes we have developed a nation far more than NZ has done for Japan. And BTW Sa players were playing and coaching in Japan long before the Kiwis arrived. Fourie du Preez and many others were playing there 15 years ago.


"Isaac Van Heerden's reputation as an innovative coach had spread to Argentina, and he was invited to Buenos Aires to help the Pumas prepare for their first visit to South Africa in 1965.[1][2] Despite Argentina faring badly in this tour,[2] it was the start of a long and happy relationship between Van Heerden and the Pumas. Izak van Heerden took leave from his teaching post in Durban, relocated to Argentina, learnt fluent Spanish, and would revolutionise Argentine play in the late 1960s, laying the way open for great players such as Hugo Porta.[1][2] Van Heerden virtually invented the "tight loose" form of play, an area in which the Argentines would come to excel, and which would become a hallmark of their playing style. The Pumas repaid the initial debt, by beating the Junior Springboks at Ellis Park, and emerged as one of the better modern rugby nations, thanks largely to the talents of this Durban schoolmaster.[1]"


After the promise made by Junior Springbok manager JF Louw at the end of a 12-game tour to Argentina in 1959 – ‘I will do everything to ensure we invite you to tour our country’ – there were concerns about the strength of Argentinian rugby. South African Rugby Board president Danie Craven sent coach Izak van Heerden to help the Pumas prepare and they repaid the favour by beating the Junior Springboks at Ellis Park.

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